TacSat-1 was an experimental satellite built by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on behalf of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Force Transformation (OFT).

[2] Much of the payload software was implemented through the use of bash scripts operating on the "Copperfield-2" general-purpose computer system aboard the spacecraft.

[3] The TacSat series of experimental spacecraft are designed to allow military commanders on a battlefield to request and obtain imagery and other data from a satellite as it passes overhead.

[6][1] The TacSat series of satellites use commercial or available launchers, and largely off-the-shelf components, in order to reduce costs.

The TacSat-1 spacecraft was based on Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) MicroStar (triple) satellite bus, also used for the Orbcomm communications constellation.